It remains that we
should consider, with a little attention, its operation upon
Parliament.
Parliament was indeed the great object of all these politics, the
end at which they aimed, as well as the instrument by which they
were to operate. But, before Parliament could be made subservient
to a system, by which it was to be degraded from the dignity of a
national council, into a mere member of the Court, it must be
greatly changed from its original character.
In speaking of this body, I have my eye chiefly on the House of
Commons. I hope I shall be indulged in a few observations on the
nature and character of that assembly; not with regard to its LEGAL
FORM AND POWER, but to its SPIRIT, and to the purposes it is meant
to answer in the constitution.
The House of Commons was supposed originally to be NO PART OF THE
STANDING GOVERNMENT OF THIS COUNTRY. It was considered as a
control, issuing immediately from the people, and speedily to be
resolved into the mass from whence it arose. In this respect it was
in the higher part of Government what juries are in the lower. The
capacity of a magistrate being transitory, and that of a citizen
permanent, the latter capacity it was hoped would of course
preponderate in all discussions, not only between the people and the
standing authority of the Crown, but between the people and the
fleeting authority of the House of Commons itself.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101